Ayurvedic Nutrition - Setting Up Your Ayurvedic Pantry

The Ayurvedic Pantry

In an Ayurvedic household, the spice cabinet is your pharmacy. Everyday kitchen spices have numerous healing benefits to the body, mind and spirit. There are too many to discuss in this post, but stay tuned to learn more about individual spices in upcoming posts.

When people begin cooking an Ayurvedic diet and living an Ayurvedic lifestyle, one of the first things we always recommend, is setting up your Ayurvedic pantry. This allows you to have a great baseline of Ayurvedic foods and spices to cook with in your home kitchen. This list below is meant to be more exhaustive. For a personalized list of recommendations, consider scheduling an Ayurvedic Consultation so that you can narrow down the pantry items to the ones that are most balancing to your unique constitution.

Buying & Storing Spices

Most people’s spice cabinet is filled with out-of-date, expired and past-their-prime spices. Spices should be kept ideally for 6 months and definitely no longer than 12 months. Spices should be kept in sealable jars and out of direct sunlight. It is best to buy whole spices and freshly grind them when you are ready to use them. If this is too much, then you can always buy ground as well. But always make sure to also have the whole spice on hand. In Ayurvedic cooking, we use whole spices early in the cooking process like when we are sautéing spices in ghee or oil to infuse the spice’s healing properties to the oil. Whereas we use ground spices at the end of the cooking process to impart flavor to the dish before serving.

When buying spices, make sure to choose organic or wild-harvested whenever possible. Buying spices in the bulk aisle of your grocery is often a nice alternative to prepackaged containers. When buying bulk spices, make sure to store in mason jars. Buying from the bulk aisle is a great way to buy what you need while also keeping your spices fresh.

The Ayurvedic Pantry

 Spices

Ajwain (seeds)
Bay (leaves)
Black Pepper (whole & ground)
Cardamom (pods, seeds & ground)
Cayenne (ground)
Cinnamon (sticks & ground)
Clove (whole & ground)
Coriander (seeds & ground)
Cumin (seeds & ground)
Curry (leaves)
Dill (seeds)
Fennel (seeds)
Fenugreek (seeds & ground)
Ginger (ground)
Hing/Asafoetida (powder compound)
Brown Mustard Seeds (whole)
Nutmeg (whole & ground)
Saffron (threads)
Salt (Pink Himalayan)
Turmeric (ground)

Grains, Beans, Flours

Basmati Rice (white)
Millet
Tapioca
Amaranth
Quinoa
Couscous
Farro
Barley
Cream of Wheat
Cream of Rice
Oats (groats, rolled, bran)
Beans (kidney, adzuki, chickpeas, mung, black-eyed peas)
Split Yellow Mung Dal
Lentils (brown, green, red, black, yellow)
Flour (whole wheat, chickpea, rice, almond meal)

Nuts & Seeds

Almonds (raw)
Peanuts (raw)
Coconut (unsweetened)
Flax
Pumpkin
Sunflower
Sesame

Oils

Olive
Sunflower
Virgin Coconut
Ghee
Safflower
Avocado
Sesame (untoasted)

Sweeteners

Raw Honey
Agave Nectar
Maple Syrup
Coconut Sugar
Turbinado Sugar
Apple Juice Concentrate

Teas

Peppermint
Ginger
Tulsi
Dandelion
Turmeric
Licorice
Chamomile
Lemongrass
Hibiscus
Raspberry Leaf

Fresh Items

Cilantro
Ginger
Turmeric

Miscellaneous

Coconut Vinegar
Rice Wine Vinegar
Coconut Aminos or Tamari
Raisins
Dates
Rose Water